An overview of today:
Slept in until about ten (traveling from US to Iraq = lots of tired interns). Got up and ate some delicious pumpkin bread with chocolate chips provided by the amazing Jessica Courtney, followed by a crash course in Kurdish "don'ts." We then walked a couple blocks to a delicious restaurant where we had rice, kebabs, tomatoes, beans, cucumber, some amazing stew I've never heard of, and fantastic bread. Next we returned to the house and prepared for our scavenger hunt- splitting into two teams we went into the town with nothing but a list of "essential" and "optional" tasks.
Sophie, Preston, Joshua, and I left the house and walked around the corner to the market to exchange ten US dollars for ~12,000 dinar. Walking back out to the bridge (the name of which I still cannot pronounce) we passed up on about five full busses before finally working up the courage to squeeze ourself onto one and head for the bazaar. Please note: at this point we are four extremely out of place Americans in Sulaymaniyah for the first time, who can say "Dest xosh" (thank you), "Choni? Bashi?" (Hello, how are you?), "Nexer" - short version "Na" (no), and Bale (yes) - all pronounced horribly, no doubt. Sounds a bit like a recipe for disaster- but our day turned out to be the opposite!
On the bus (and thanks to Preston's initiation with "Choni? Bashi?") we met our new friend Hajin (that is spelled completely wrong, I promise you) who spoke great English and was just a super nice guy. He gave up much of his afternoon to walk around the huge, amazing, huge, (did I say huge?) bazaar with us, showing us around and teaching us, and even buying us smoothies and helping with some negotiating! In the (huge) bazaar we bought ASIAcell sim cards, a few cell phones (got Hajin's number!), some Samon (tasty bread- one loaf costs about 10 cents), saw a road completely filled with gold vendors, saw a squirrel with a necklace for sale, met a Klash maker/seller (p.s. you can buy Klash and all profits will go towards helping fund a life-saving heart surgery for an Iraqi kid: http://www.buyshoessavelives.com/), and failed at the pronunciation of some new Kurdish phrases (Pexosh halim benasinit).
At the conclusion of our first foray into the bazaar, we grabbed another bus back to the bridge (Xesro Hal?) and walked back to the Courtney's (who are amazing hosts, by the way). Joshua T. and I went to the market and got Jess some ground beef, and then we all ate a big dinner together. After that we had some great, intimate fellowship and listened to most of Joshua G.'s life story- such a cool guy, honored to be working with him.
Tomorrow we are going to begin getting more into actual PLC work, which I am very excited about.
Much more to come, but for now I need sleep! In the meantime, please check PLC's new Remedy Mission- an incredible opportunity to help kids and communities in Iraq like we never have before!
Much love from Iraq,
Alex
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